Seller’s market: Homes in southwest Las Vegas are going fast

At 2,100 square feet, the master bedroom of this Southern Highlands mansion is larger than many homes. The 15,000-square-foot house at 18 Olympia Hills Circle is an example of the high-end homes for sale in the southwest part of the valley. It carries a price tag of $8.9 million.

Median home prices in every ZIP code in the Spring Valley and southwest areas increased in 2012, according to
SalesTraq, a housing research firm. Spring Valley homes spiked an average of 10.3 percent over 2011 prices, while southwest-area homes — south of Tropicana Avenue — jumped 7.9 percent. The biggest increase was 17 percent in the 89146 ZIP code. Home values increased in 2012 in all but three of the valley’s 58 ZIP codes.

And while Spring Valley home values increased more, they are still far behind home values in the southwest.

“In Spring Valley, there’s not much in the way of expensive homes,” said Gavin Ernstone, broker and owner of Las Vegas realty company Simply Vegas. “A lot of the expensive stuff is to the outskirts.”

Ernstone said houses in Spanish Trail, Rhodes Ranch and Southern Highlands have the highest values.

Ernstone is the agent for the $8.9 million Southern Highlands property. He called it “one of the best-built houses in Las Vegas.”

“Every detail has been incredibly thought out.”

A few of these details include seven bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a 70-foot pool with 20 fountains, a 2,800-bottle wine cellar, a seven-car garage and more. The house has been on the market for 18 months, Ernstone said. He specializes in such high-end properties and said the price tag is no indication of how long it will take to sell.

“It just depends on who’s walking through the door,” he said. “It could be a month or two years. ... I think every person is different. It just all depends on individual taste. Every buyer and every house is unique.”

On the other side of the spectrum are homes such as the 1,084-square-foot home on Newville Avenue. The house is about half the size of the master bedroom of the mansion. At $89,000, it was one of the cheapest single-family homes listed as of April 5 in the Spring Valley and southwest areas. The cheapest homes are concentrated in North Las Vegas, near downtown and in the east and northeast valley.

Scott Yancey, owner of real estate brokerage firm Goliath Company and star of the A&E TV show “Flipping Vegas,” has made a career of flipping homes for a profit.

“In this market, you really can luck out,” he said. “The supply and demand has switched sides lately. There’s more demand and not enough supply. The prices are going up.”

More than half of home sales in Las Vegas are purchased with cash, according to a report by the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors. Investors such as Yancey are buying homes cheaply and either renovating them or holding on until the value increases.

Yancey said he purchased a house this month for $25,000, even though the owners were asking for more than $70,000. They were eager to get rid of it, he said.

“You get a good deal by paying cash and closing fast and taking it in as-is condition,” he said. “... I know today I can sell it for $75,000 without touching it.”

Yancey said it is important to compare a potential investment home with what other homes in the neighborhood have sold for recently.

“You have to make sure current comparable properties are selling for an amount you want to get for it once you put your improvements in it,” he said.

Yancey said it is important to buy property in a desirable location and consider neighborhood schools, shopping and other amenities. Yancey said money is made on the buy more than the sell. And now, he said, is the time to buy.

“We’ve had a flood of over 50 percent of homebuyers are cash buyers and investors,” he said. “... We’re in a time where things are 60 percent off what they were before.

“I tell people beg, borrow and steal to buy as much as you can at the bottom, especially with interest rates as low as they are right now.”

Contact View education reporter Jeff Mosier at jmosier@viewnews.com or 702-224-5524.